Courting Disaster :: A Naruto Adventure & Romantic Pursuit ::02:: Ente... - Story

Here you were. You were finally at the academy for the last time. In the next few minutes you would receive your team assignment, meet your teacher, and move on towards a meaningful career.

You stood in front of the door warily, somewhat hesitant to open it, to leave behind the relatively simple days of student-ship. You took one last deep breath, trying to settle your fluttering stomach. You gently reached up, slowly, for the door handle.

"OUTTA THE WAY PLANT-HEAD!"

You spun around, fuming. Who the hell was calling you plant-head? Whoever it was, they were just asking for a fight. Your rationality quickly shut off, as if someone had flipped a light switch in your head.

You squinted into the distance, where the call was coming from, where two tiny figures were approaching the academy at a very rapid speed. After a few moments, it became clear that it was Ino, the shrieky voiced girl… and that one girl with pink hair that seemed pretty annoying too. They were both running full throttle, their faces twisted in grimaces as they tried to out-do each other with every step.

You steeled yourself. No way would you let some smart-mouthed little brat like either of those two boss you around. You weren't going to move. Not until you damn well felt like it, anyway.

"I SAID MOVE IT, IDIOT!" The pink haired one shrieked, waving her arms around to usher you out of the way.

You spread your legs to the akimbo position, locking your arms into the frame of the doorway.

"NO WAY, PINKIE." You rebutted, your eyes narrowing into tiny slits.

The two-girl stampede came closer.

"What the hell is wrong with you girls?"

You head whipped to the left, momentarily taking your eyes off Ino and … annoying girl. It was a familiar face, with no name. A boy, brown hair, two red triangles on his face, a fur-lined parka, and a small dog's head peeking out from inside the coat.

"…and you are?" You questioned through clenched teeth, keeping your face pointed towards him while your eyes wandered back over to the girl freight train coming.

His eyebrows shot up, then suddenly furrowed down in anger. His mouth opened in a mild sneer, and you noticed his teeth were kind of pointed.

"K-kiba-kun?" asked a very soft voice from behind the mystery boy.

"HEY! You're that girl I saw yesterday!" You cheered, immediately recognizing the girl with navy blue hair and lavender eyes. She blushed as soon as your eyes landed on her; she took an almost unnoticeable step backwards as she noticed the current scenario. Her eyes widened in alarm as she looked towards the entrance, where Ino and the pink haired girl had finally entered the hallway.

"You guys might want to step back." You hissed, an almost fanatic glow inhabiting your eyes.

They smartly took your advice.

You lowered your arms quickly, the two girls looked relieved, each of them anticipating that they would sneak into the classroom on either side of you. Someone behind you opened the door… but there wasn't enough time to turn around and yell at them. They were so very close…

But at the last moment, you snapped your arms back up, effectively clothes lining them. Their heads snapped backwards while the rest of their bodies continued forward.

They groaned mildly on the floor, you nudged the pink one with your foot.

"You two are insane." You told them, the fierce glare in your eyes gone, and your voice now taking on a mild tone.

As you turned around, you passed a rather shocked looking Shikamaru who had opened the door and walked into the classroom. He stared down at the two girls on the floor, looking up to exchange startled looks with Kiba.

"She always seemed… relatively normal." Kiba muttered, his wide eyes trailing your back as you picked out a random seat near a window in the classroom.

As the door swung close it hit the foot of Ino, preventing it from closing all the way, who was closest to the door frame. She suddenly recovered from her temporary comatose, sitting up with frightening speed.

"Aha! My foot was in the classroom first! I win, Forehead!" She cheered, attempting to stand up.

At these words, however, the pink one revived. "OH, whatever you filthy pig! She clearly hit me first, which meant I was ahead, so my feet got into the classroom first. "

Both of them were on their feet again within seconds, struggling to get into the room before the other one. Kiba, Shikamaru, and the quiet girl stood to the side, still dumbfounded.

You were already bored with that scenario, now pointedly ignoring the argument going on between Ino and the mystery girl about whose foot had entered the classroom a full 1/15th of an inch in front of the other one's. You yawned suddenly, not having realized how tired you were. All that fighting had tuckered you out.

You figured, correctly, that you probably had enough time to take a quick cat nap.

[Some time later]

"That's CRAP! Why does someone amazing like me have to be on a team with someone stupid like Sasuke?"

You were woken up quite abruptly as someone slammed the desk top next to you. You sat up wearily, blinking, and looking to the right to try and determine who was shrieking so close to your sensitive ears.

"Ahh… Naruto. Mind piping down a bit, eh?" You muttered, laying your head back down in the cradle of your arms.

"OH! And what's up with this other girl on our team, eh? Who the hell is she anyways?" Naruto screamed further, ignoring your kind request. You gave up on trying to sleep again, dragging yourself back into an upright position. After rubbing your eyes you could identify Naruto's waving arms in the corner of your sight, and a peeved Iruka clutching his forehead in exasperation.

"Naruto. Please, allow me to explain. You see, you are on this team because you got the worst scores on the test, both written and physically. Now, this 'other girl' you're so confused about is sitting to your left, and she is on your team because she got the best scores on the test, both written and physically. Her name is Aika Touzoku. And Sasuke is on your team because it was necessary to balance out your horrible scores, as well as Sakura's bad physical scores."

Now THAT caught your full attention.

"Banzai!" You declared, throwing your hands into the air with a grin.

"Wait… WHAT?" The pink haired girl stood. "How did a lowlife thug like her beat Sasuke-kun?" She demanded angrily.

"Because I'm a frikkin genius, forehead!" You shouted right back, standing up. Once again… your usually quiet demeanor went flying out the window. Maybe it was just her pink hair that provoked you, like the way red supposedly provoked a bull.

And speaking of Sasuke, boy did he look disturbed. He was fixing you with another one of those glares, just like the one you received after the graduation exam. The graduation exam where you had BEAT HIM.

"Hahaha. Damn straight!" You cheered once more, then quickly turning back to Iruka. "Oh hey, who did you say was on my team again?"

He sighed, clearly distressed by the whole situation. "If everyone would just calm down we can get the class back on track. Now Aika, if you had been paying attention, you would have heard your assignment the first time. I will repeat it one more time, and then I'm moving on. Team 7 is Naruto Uzumaki, Aika Touzoku, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha. Now Team 8…"

"Wait. Who's this Sakura character?" you interrupted.

The entire class stared, unbelieving. You had just been arguing with someone whose name you didn't even know?

"I'm surprised you know your own name." Kiba drawled from somewhere behind you.

This, combined with the fact that everyone was still staring at you made you start to blush again. The confident, aggressive Aika was gone. You quickly sat back down, shoving your face in your hands to try and cover up the blush.

"Err… Sakura-chan is the one you were fighting with." Naruto thankfully whispered to you, pointing to the pink haired girl who was still looking ready to strangle you.

"Thanks Naruto." You whispered back, not removing your hands from your cheeks.

[Lunchtime]

To be honest, you didn't particularly care for any of the people on your new team. They were all super annoying. It was apparent that Sakura and Sasuke already hated you.

"Ha. Idiot Uchiha. He's probably just jealous of my amazing skills and looks." You mused, eating your lunch on one of the many ledges sticking out of the academy building.

"Ah… speak of the devil." You giggled, watching a rather… happy looking Sasuke stroll across a field. He leaned against a tree, directly across from Sakura, who was sitting on a bench.

He said something, and she seemed shocked. He suddenly walked over near her… rather unusual actions for him to take. She was suddenly blushing like mad. But then…

"Are they going to kiss?" You asked no one, your jaw dropping to your knees. Your eyes were riveted on the scene, which was almost directly in front of you, if not some distance away.

But Sasuke clenched his stomach, suddenly running off. Sakura looked almost… dazed.

"What just happened there? Sasuke seems more… emotive than usual." You pondered, one chopstick in your mouth as you looked to the sky, thinking of the possible causes of such behavior.

"What did you say?"

"Sasuke? Didn't you just run off?" You asked, not understanding how Sasuke could have gotten from where he had run off to, to the roof right behind you in such a short time.

And there was that massively pissed off look again. "Have you seen Naruto?" he questioned, clenching his fists and looking around the nearby area to try and spot the yellow haired boy.

"Can't say that I have." You answered aloofly, finally processing what had just happened. Clearly, Naruto had transformed into Sasuke after somehow delaying or hindering Sasuke from killing him. He had then proceeded to approach Sakura, the object of his affection, in hopes of getting her to kiss him. Naruto clearly had bowel problems, judging by his actions and the fact that he had been heading towards the boy's bathroom. Sakura probably wasn't smart enough to figure out that her Sasuke wasn't the real Sasuke. Not that you would tell Uchiha that.

"Maybe you should go ask Sakura." You suggested deviously, smirking to yourself as Sasuke nodded vaguely, jumping off the building.

You laughed to yourself, watching as Sasuke strolled down the sidewalk in his usual brooding manner.

"-Emotionally prepared?" You heard the end of Sakura's shout as she jumped to her feet, waving excitedly at Sasuke. He kept well to the other side, eventually stopping when he was about even with her bench.

His mouth moved, and she looked upset. She waved her hands around a bit, and finally ended some kind of long rant by flipping her hair. From what you could see, Sasuke was pissed. (Again) He was obviously in the mood for scathing comments, as Sakura suddenly looked both shocked, and heartbroken. He stormed off; she sat down, her eyes still wide.

You giggled again, wondering if Sasuke had told Sakura that her most fervent wishes for romance were completely in vain, or if he had just called her an idiot (like she deserved), or both. You hoped both.

Naruto came back from the bathroom, this time in his own form, but still clutching his abdomen. At the sight of him, Sakura stood up again, waving. You couldn't tell from your distance whether the smile was forced or not, but Naruto actually seemed… upset that she was trying to be nice.

"Well… that's ironic." You muttered, watching as they both proceeded to walk back towards the academy. You finished stuffing your mouth with the remains of your bento box, custom made by your aunt, and jumped down. Time to meet your sensei.

[The Classroom]

You sat quietly in the corner, sitting on top of one of the desks and staring out the window. Every once in a while you would glance at the other three people in the room, your new team. You could be a relatively patient person, but all of you had been waiting for a ridiculous amount of time. What kind of teacher didn't even bother to show up and teach his students? Probably a bad one.

Naruto was giggling now, rubbing his hands together in excitement. He grabbed a chalkboard eraser, climbing on top of a chair to perch the eraser on the sliding door.

"That's what he gets for making us wait." He proclaimed, clapping his hands.

"Naruto, a jonin isn't going to fall for that." Sakura chided, though the look in her eyes said she was excited about the prank.

You rolled your eyes, turning back to the window. But just as you did, you heard the door open. By the time you turned around, the eraser was on the floor, and you weren't really sure whether it had hit him. But when Naruto broke out laughing, the answer was obvious.

"Hmm… I think my first impression is that… I hate you guys."

[The rooftop]

"You there, on the left. Your turn." The silver haired man said, not that you were listening.

There were a few moments of awkward silence as everyone looked towards you, waiting for you to answer. You were still staring at the sky.

"Uh… Aika?" Naruto, the only one of the three still speaking to you, prompted.

"Hmm?" You asked, turning to look at him. You blushed; everyone was looking at you…again.

"Introduce yourself. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, and goal for the future." Your sensei (what was his name again?) summarized his former speech with a sigh.

"Oh. Okay. Well, I'm Aika Touzoku. I like to train… and think. I don't like annoying people like Sakura, Ino, Sasuke, and well… I guess Naruto is alright. My hobbies are… well, training and thinking I guess. My goal for the future? I guess it’s to find out who that one guy I bumped into was, and to surpass my aunt and uncle as ninjas." You commented slowly and dreamily.

Both Sasuke and Sakura seemed thoroughly upset, while Naruto grinned happily. Your sensei looked pensive. But suddenly, your mind was struck by a far less pleasant thought.

"Oh, and I'm going to hunt down a certain pair of people."

The group seemed startled, and were clearly put off by the combination of such a dark thought, and the bright smile now on your face.

"Well I guess that's it for now…" He started.

You interrupted. "Isn't anyone else going to go?"

They stared at you again.

"We already went." Sakura finally provided.

"I always seem to miss the interesting things" you sighed, finally turning back to your teacher.

"As I was saying, we'll meet at the north training field tomorrow morning for survival training."

"Why do we need to do that? We did plenty of that at academy!" Naruto protested, while you vaguely nodded your head in agreement. You didn't want to waste any more time, you wanted to learn more useful things.

"Ha ha, well, I hate to be the bearer or bad news, but… the tests aren't over. Tomorrow we'll be weeding out about 2/3 of the graduates to determine who really deserves to be a genin. Tomorrow will be your final test, but don't eat breakfast unless you want to see it again…" He smiled kindly, as if that wasn't a disturbing image.